Customer Reviews

A Dance through Time

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Ok, so not EVERYONE will like it, but those of us who wish to escape from our everyday, humdrum lives appreciate the humor and fantasy that Lynn Kurland puts into her books. I've read several reviews of Kurland's books and find that the majority of people feel like I do. I even read one review that more or less blasted Kurland for her books being so unreal...COME ON PEOPLE! If you would just read the synopsis on the back of the book, you would realize that they are supposed to be fantasy...not based on true stories. This is fiction at it's best. When you can take historical facts such as the way people conducted themselves and lived their lives in those days, and combine it with a fictional romance and magical time travel, well it's enough to make someone like me wish that it WERE based entirely on fact. THAT, my fellow readers, is what makes a book worth reading. Ms. Kurland...thanks for you wonderful imagination. It brightens my days.

I have to disagree with Jill on one point. I enjoyed this book very much. Also a Gabaldon fan and waiting for her next book, I needed something to read. I found Ms. Kurland's books easy to read, hard to put down at times and a nice way to pass the time. Though nothing can hold a candle to Gabaldon's Outlander in historical content,and character development, Lynn Kurland's books were all a lot of fun. I'm glad I took the time to read them all.

I compare every Kurland book I read to this one, the original, so I figured I ought to finally review it. <grin> I love this story ~ I still tear up when I'm re-reading it! Time travel is always a little unbelievable, but Kurland's imagination is fertile and she comes up with a beautiful love story between a medieval Scottish laird and the 20th-century writer that finds herself in the midst of his barbaric world. I love the fact that she's more PG-13 in her books than XXX and yet there is still a full gamut of human emotion captured ~ humor, fear, anger, jealousy, joy, compassion.

Some have compared this story to Diane Gabaldon's masterpieces. While there are similarities, the books excel on two different planes. Don't expect the depth and breadth of Outlander, but read this one for what it is: a heart-warming, imaginative love story that will lead you on to a whole collection of Kurland-greats.

I'll admit that I was perhaps looking for something to read that would keep me occupied until Diana Gabaldon releases "The Fiery Cross." Just something along the lines of historical romance with the interesting twist of time travel. This doesn't mean that I was hoping "A Dance Through Time" would be a replica of "Outlander" (and it wasn't!), but I guess I was hoping for more...something. This novel reads like the one you might have written in seventh grade with your best friend, passing it back and forth, each of you writing a giggling, girlish, highly implausible chapter. Jamie is just this pig-headed lout from the past with no discernible redeeming qualities. Mind you, I expect 13th century Scottish lairds to be pig-headed, but his constant outbursts of "By all the saints!" and "Saints above!" and "By all the saints (again)!" became a joke. How many different ways can he express his exasperation for this vexing, ravishing, yet innocent temptress from the future? Two, evidently. So, aside from his limited vocabulary (and I appreciate that men even in our own time may have difficulty expressing themselves beyond a compassionate grunt), he just didn't strike me as someone to stick around a drafty old castle for, when you have the creature comforts of home (and your milquetoast fiance) back in the 20th century. And could Elizabeth be more irritating? Copping a major attitude on the spur of the moment, working herself into a grand pout when the big lummox (that would be Jamie) doesn't concede to her wishes, collapsing into helpless tears at the slightest incident... And then there's her family, back here in the modern era. She disappears without a trace for months, returns with a big bearded guy who claims to be a Scottish laird from 600 years ago, and this is all okay with them? They just accept it? Her family of four brothers and a big, stubborn, over-protective father? A single night of questioning Jamie convinces them that he's all he says he is, and now they're bonding in that gruff, manly way?? Hello? I appreciate an element of fantasy in books, but this bland acceptance of the highly unbelievable fit in poorly with what was clearly trying to be a halfway realistic tale. Anyway. I couldn't make myself like this book, even though I wanted to, if only to justify the $6 I spent on it. I gave it 2 stars, though, because it wasn't HORRIBLE. It just wasn't very good.

If there was ever a book that would make you believe in love again I think it would be this one. Kurland's characters are so perfect in their own flawed ways, they are truely believable and very real. There is no perfectly in control of her self Barbie seducing a senstive Ken, but a Highlander laird who vows no women will disrupt his life and a sweet, fragile NYer involved with a man who does not really love her. Between the battles, the time hopping, Jamie's grumbling, and Elizabeth's sweetness, this book rates as a top notcher. Granted, not her best work, but much better than those Romantic histories that end up making us average women feel lees than enough...at least we can compare ourselves..and our mates (wink) to her characters. Pick this oine and the rest of her romances up..you'll not be disappointed.

I found this book to be enchanting. It is not by any means "a historically acurate account and so on," but I found the characters sweet. While I wouldn't say "it's real life" but since when is romance novels ever real life? The thing that enchanted me was the care that the hero shows the woman. Of course not at first--I would definitley expect more groveling if I was thrown into a pit. But the romance was so sweet and far more caring than these plotless stories being put out today that show love as falling into bed together and if the man climaxed like he never did before--it must be love! YEAH RIGHT! If one is looking to apply this story to real life--than don't read this. If you want a story that is sweet and has more plot than a lot of the romance novels (notice I didn't say ALL romance novels) being put out today, than read it. Five stars from me--not a classic, but charming. I like Ms. Kurland's style!

This was the first full-length book of Ms. Kurland's that I read. I had read a short story in Viels of Time about Ian McLeod and loved it so went looking for this one. This story is about Laird James McLeod and the lady he falls in love with from the future, Elizabeth Smith. The story is both sexy and heart-warming. I loved the characters SO much! Another fabulous thing is that the stories continued in "The Very Thought of You" about Elizabeth's brother Alex and in "A Garden in the Rain" about James' brother Patrick. I would recommend that you read them all! They are not only sexy but fun and sassy!

Elizabeth Smith got her happiness from the world of fiction. Writing romances, Elizabeth enjoys her life. When she first dreams of a fierce Scotland warrior, she is convinced she needs a vacation. In an attempt to clear her head, she takes a walk to a park nearby her house...and wakes up in fourteenth century Scotland. Realizing that she is stuck in 1311, Elizabeth tries to make the best of her situation, and soon finds herself falling in love with the Laird of the clain McLeod.

Jamie McLeod follwed his father's tradition in not allowing women in his keep. That changes when Elizabeth is found in the forest surrounding the keep. Believing her as a witch, Jamie banishes her to the dungeon and makes plans to burn her at the stake. Too late he looks through Elizabeth's things and realizes that she is from another time and not the witch he has dubbed her.

The days that follow will bring a smile to the readers face. Jamie is endearingly sweet and at the same time fiercly masculine. Elizabeth was not put off by Jamie's gruff manner which will endear her to the reader. I have read other reviews about not liking that Jamie returned to Elizabeth's time, but Kurland brings the story about in a way that to not return to the twentieth century would unravel the threads of time and change the future. I immensely enjoyed this book!

If you love time-travel romances, do not miss this book! Kurland's writing style is wonderfully fresh and her characters well-developed and enjoyable. I loved the bantering between characters--it reminded me of time spent with my own family. Better still is that we can revisit them like old friends in the sequel, The Very Thought of You. I haven't enjoyed a time-travel romance as much since I read Jude Deveraux's A Knight in Shining Armor. I actually like Kurland's heroine, Elizabeth, better than Deveraux's Douglass, who IMHO, cried a tad bit too much. Well done, Lynn!

This was an excellent book. I read Romance novels every weekend and I am used to reading novels that have heavy sexual encounters, light wit, and extended story line until the heavy sex can come into play because of course the girl is always a frightened virgin who happened to save herself for the right man (even if he does live 700 years in the past).
But this book was wonderful...There were innuendo's as far as the love scenes were concerned..it may be considered a little light and some what teasing and misleading for those who are used to Beatrice Smalls novels, but for those of you who are lavryle spencer readers (like I started out) this brings you back to modest, love that leaves you to imagine the physical actions between the hero and the heroine...not everything needs to be spelled out step by step...A great novel with charming characters....A good read.